Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The worst thing in the entire whole world happened today
I bought my tangerine milk snake, only about a foot or so long, from the pet store. they put him in a cloth BAG of all things and tied up the end, but i guess not well enough because by the time i got home he was NOT in that bag. I am 100% positive he was in it when I first got in the car and I know he didn't fall out when i opened the door because I looked at the bag before doing so and checked my door first, thinking he could fall out if he was beside the door. My suspicion is that he is up inside the front passenger seat where it is warmest. Please, for the sake of my sanity, somebody tell me they have an idea for luring him out or finding him, PLEASE!
my father suggested opening up all the doors, getting all my friends to cover the doors, and letting me spray lyscol or something, anything, up inside it so he'd move. I don't know if it would be a good idea though, I don't want to hurt him but at the same time if I don't do SOMETHING he'll die anyway! heeeeeeeeelp!

Keep the doors and windows shut.Im not sure were you live but if it gets cold tonite that snake will find a way to the motor by morning.Good Luck...Paul..

If it's cold where you live, I'd plug in a heat pad and leave it on the floor. Then leave it alone alone all night until 1hour or so before sunrise. Then check the heat pad. Good luck!

well yes, i'm in Virginia so the nights were decent as of late. Only tonight has it been very cold and we took an extension cord and whipped out the heating pad. It's now in there with the little soda-bottle home-made "trap" with a thawed out frozen pinkie in it. HOPEFULLY he will go "gee i'm cold, i better go to this warm thing, and eat this other thing" and then stay there until 6 AM when i check. i'm so worried about him. everyone keeps asking me if i'm scared of it biting me or assuming my only problem is being too scared to drive the car now for my own sake. i'm far more concerned about his health than I am about a baby-size snake nibble. ugh! some people!

thank you so much for all the advice, i'm taking every ounce of it. we've done the thorough searching. i'm so tempted to just start ripping my car apart... by the way, my car is an SUV/GMC Jimmy to be precise. yay, even more room for him to hide. perfect...
wish me luck
at least I keep hearing stories about them showing up a week later. i very much hope it comes true for me. but i'd still like x-ray vision so i could see where he is!

The active ingredient in it is toxic to snakes and should never come in close proximity to any reptile. Same with Pine Sol. I wonder if the word "sol" is short for solvent??? Do not use these products anywhere near your snake for any reason.

Put tape traps inside the car.

Open some heat packs (hand warmers) and put one/some inside a box where you will probably find the snake attempting to escape the cold.

Go back to the pet shop and get some of the substrate or the actual cage it was in and put that in there with heat packs in a hiding place within.

Dead mouse in a box with several hides and heat packs.

Good luck,

Don
South Mountain Reptiles

I purchased a generic disenfectant spray that I spray on my carpet substrate before I wash it what is the toxic ingrediants so i can see if my spray is toxic. I have not put the sprayed carpet back in the cage yet.
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1.1 Leos
1.1 Corn snakes (1 Lav & 1 Ghost)
0.0.1 Childrens python
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow boa
1.0 Rat (as pet not food)
1.0 Cat
"whats with you and all those dang reptiles?"

I confess that I never investigated what that active ingredient was that was toxic to the reptiles. I just avoided using anything that wasn't specifically marketed for use with reptiles OR tried and truely safe. That is, ammonia and bleach when diluted properly are safe for cleaning contact surfaces. Naturally so are many dish soaps.

The old saying used to be "if it has sol on the end of the name, you're S.O.L." Since many knock-off brands don't infringe on the trademark names, it's possible that some other copycat products include this dangerous toxin.

If anyone knows what that element is, let us know.
South Mountain Reptiles

Febreeze is deadly...just as an FYI.

Anywya, I wouldn't use ANY cleaners except something like Roccal-D where the snake is likely to be. Cheap and VERY effective. If you have a spare cage so a clenaed cage can be rinse and then air out for a few days, you can use bleach. I believe Ammonia to be pretty safe with propery rinsing and a little airing-out. Roccal-D, Nolvosan, etc. is the safest stuff tyo clean cages with IMO.

remember that snakes are a lot more sensitive to some of these things than mammals, but the chemicals are usually tested on mammals and NOT reptiles. Also, snakes only have that one functioning lung for the most part, tso the problem can become pretty dang bad FAST. be careful

KJ

I lost a Costa Rican milk once in the car.......

on a 100 degree week here.........

they can get out and onto the ground and escape....

found it a week later in the trunk just hanging there chilling.....

good luck.......

just keep looing around..........

had black rats get into the bucket seats.........guys dad tore the seat out and we got it that way.......4 footer)

........twist bags..then put alot of rubberbands on it......

knots aren't that good.......

and they are a pain to get untied..........

JYReptiles

Yah, I agree with the "knots aren't that good" comment.

The first time I used a snake bag, I put the bag on the car seat next to me and while driving I saw the snake winding it's way through the knot. I quickly got off the road to get the snake back in the bag securely, but for the rest of the drive I kept looking over at the seat just to make sure he wasn't getting out again. I'm surprised I didn't get into an accident that day due to the circumstances.

Since then whenever I bag a snake I also put it in a ventilated rubbermaid box just so if it gets out of the bag, it's still contained.

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alstiver@hotmail.com

Currently own:
1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla Coil)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.2 Goldfish (Isamu, and Yuki; RIP Kabuki)
1.0 '99 American Eskimo mix (Rusty)

Next to be added:
0.1 '03 or '04 Hypo Nicaraguan boa
1.0 '04 or '05 Type II Anery Nicaraguan boa